Bandcamp Bans AI-Generated Music

Edge case.
Photo: Paramount/YouTube

“Fuck AI. Fuck it so hard. Just fuck it to death.” So says Hudson Williams, a.k.a. Heated Rivalry’s Shane Hollander. And also Bandcamp, apparently. The music hosting platform announced on their official subreddit that AI-generated music would be banned in 2026. Speaking of their 2025 wrapped content, Bandcamp shouted out “the sheer quantity of human creativity and passion that artists express on Bandcamp every single day. The fact that Bandcamp is home to such a vibrant community of real people making incredible music is something we want to protect and maintain.” To further that humans-first goal, Bandcamp made clear their policy on AI-generated music. It’s twofold. 1) music that is wholly or mostly made by AI isn’t allowed on the service. 2) Any use of AI tools to make soundalikes or sonic deepfakes is also “strictly prohibited.” Bandcamp also asked users to help by using its report tools to flag content that seems botty.

Bandcamp is not in the majority of platforms in taking this explicitly pro-human expression stance. The 2026 Morgan Stanley survey of audio habits found that 50-60% of listeners 18-44 listen to a couple hours of AI music a week. According to Morgan Stanley, most AI music is consumed on YouTube and TikTok, but Spotify isn’t that far behind. So before you click on that Snoopy cool jazz for the background video, do your research.